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After sitting down, Caderousse immediately asked Bowan about the cost of lighting modification, and expressed his intention to borrow money from Bowan.

"Oh, you mean the lamps, I know something about that," said Monsieur Bowan.

Caderousse knew that the banker Beauwan had long been associated with the military-industrial complex. It is said that when Joseph was still running the Naval Research Institute in Toulon and building various smuggling ships, they already had business contacts-although Mr. Bowan's business was actually limited at that time, but in In the business with Joseph, he still made a lot of money. Later, after the establishment of the military-industrial complex, Mr. Bowan was also one of the first businessmen to join the military-industrial complex. It is said that General Bonaparte—well, we are talking about the older, iron-walled Bonaparte— When he was in charge of the defense of Verdun when he was in crisis, many of the material purchases and capital transactions behind him were also related to Mr. Bowan.

Dean Bonaparte later quit the army and became a scientist with all his heart, so that now, unless you subscribe to professional journals such as "Nature", you can hardly see his name. However, according to the indistinct meaning revealed by some well-known people, Bonaparte's ruling and Minister Bonaparte still respect their elder brother very much.

Now this electric light, don't even think about it, it must have come out of the laboratory of Dean Bonaparte, probably made by Bonaparte General Electric. And Mr. Bowan is said to also hold shares in Bonaparte General Electric. How could he not know about this kind of thing?

"The price of electric lamps is actually limited. Well, Mr. Caderousse, although you are not in the business of general daily necessities, you should also know that there are many grades of any kind of necessities. For example, for wine, there is a distinction between chateau wine and factory wine; and chateau wine is divided into first-class chateaux, star chateaux and regional villages; Monsieur Caderousse, which category do you think has the highest profit margin among these wines? And which category has the largest total profit?"

"The one with the highest profit margin should be the grand cru winery, right? But in terms of the total profit, it should be the factory wine that has the most." Caderousse replied.

"Yes, Mr. Caderousse. In any product, the luxury grade will be very expensive, with amazing profit margins; while the general grade will be very cheap. It is like a bottle of Lafite wine, which is cheaper than a carriage of factory wine. They are all worth money. But if you talk about drinking, you can actually drink them. Even a nouveau riche like me can’t taste the difference between them at all.” Bowang laughed.

"The same goes for electric lights. You see, in places like the 'Moulin Rouge', the lamps they use are just like their wines. Although they can't guarantee that every bottle is a grand cru, no matter how bad they are, the lamps they use must be It’s wine from star chateaus—of course, their prices are even darker. They can sell wine from star chateaus at the price of grand cru chateaus—well, the same goes for electric lights. They all use luxury-level electric lights, The price is naturally very scary.

For example, the big crystal lamp above us has a diameter of six meters. Tens of thousands of crystals are used alone. The price is naturally... Ah, Mr. Caderousse, I believe that you are very interested in this lamp. Probably not interested. Looking at the small crystal chandelier next to it, the one with a diameter of 80 cm, you may be more interested. Well, this kind of two or three thousand francs is about the same. Of course, if the requirements are lowered a little bit, all the crystals are replaced with glass, and the lamps are also replaced. Well, it is estimated that tens of francs, or even a dozen francs, will be enough. "

"Is that much different from this one?" asked Caderousse hastily.

"Is there a big difference between Chateau Lafite wine and factory wine?" Bowen asked rhetorically.

Caderousse was speechless. Bowan went on to say:

"Actually, for ordinary nightclubs, the lights themselves may not be the biggest consumption. The biggest long-term consumption may be electricity. Because electricity also costs money."

"So, what is the electricity bill?" Caderousse asked hastily.

"As far as I know," Bowang said, "Bonaparte General Electric's electricity bill is not high in order to expand the user base as soon as possible. If it is just one household, light two or three lamps, and light two or three lamps every day." hours, it doesn’t cost much, and ordinary working families can afford it—only in this way can electricity be promoted as soon as possible. However, it is said that they have designed a thing called a ladder electricity price, which stipulates that each household’s If the power consumption is exceeded, it will increase by some kind of product, just like the story of putting grains of wheat in the chess grid. So, if you really want to make your nightclub like 'Moulin Rouge' In this way, I estimate that the expenditure on electricity bills may become a large expense."

"They are passing on the cost to us!" Caderousse said immediately, "I guess the simplest electric lights should be very cheap?"

Caderousse's view is undoubtedly justified. Powering Paris is a big project. Such large projects always cost money. In order to promote electricity to every household as soon as possible, the price of both electricity and electrical appliances should not be too high. Otherwise, it will not be conducive to promotion. But they were reluctant to ask Bonaparte General Electric to spend their own money for promotion and traffic, so they had to come up with such a tiered electricity price, and then use the money of those big electricity users to fill this hole.

"The cheapest electric light?" Bowan smiled. "I have one in my study at home. It is indeed very cheap. It only costs one franc."

"Monsieur Bowan, do you use the cheapest lamp?"

"Yes, it's like I can't taste the difference between Lafite and factory wine. For me, as long as the lamp can be lit, it is enough. One franc lamp can also be lit. Besides, Mr. Caderousse , look up and look at the six-meter crystal lamp, can you see the difference in refracting light between crystal and glass? They all told me that the light of this lamp is more mellow and tasteful, can you Can you feel the difference between it and the glass lamp?"

"Monsieur Bowan, I haven't seen the simplest glass lamp yet." Caderousse laughed. "But, I think, maybe, it shouldn't be a certainty, and I don't see it."

Caderousse felt that he must be able to tell the difference between the two lamps, just as he could easily tell the difference between Lafite and factory wine. However, such words cannot be said in front of Mr. Bowan.

"Of course, for people like us, many things should not only consider the value of use, but also the value of decoration." Mr. Bowan continued, "For example, the lamp in my living room costs a whole lot of money. Ten thousand francs. Ha ha ha..."

"Then Mr. Bowang, do you know the specific gradient of the electricity price?"

"I just heard some news, but I can't guarantee it's completely accurate..."

After some conversations, Caderousse and Bowan reached an intentional agreement on a loan, and he planned to use relatively cheap means to imitate "Moulin Rouge", which is also the usual practice of such companies. It seems that the wines in "Moulin Rouge" are at least from star wineries, and the wines in Caderousse's nightclub are from star wineries to factory wines.

As for the electricity bill, it is indeed a problem. However, considering that the "Moulin Rouge" actually adopted a price increase because of the shortage of supply, Caderousse believes that after the renovation of the Moulin Rouge, it is impossible not to increase the consumption level. In fact, "Moulin Rouge" also has room to raise prices. For the guests of "Moulin Rouge", money has never been a big problem. And the consumption upgrade of 'Moulin Rouge' can also give them a certain profit margin, so Caderousse felt that he should still be able to get out. only:

"Well, I used to focus on making money for myself, but in the future, I'm afraid it will turn into making money for banks and power stations." After discussing the intention, for some reason, Mr. Caderousse suddenly felt Such a sentence came out.

The noisy and lively night passed like this. Early the next morning, as soon as the citizens went out, they saw newsboys running and shouting all over the street.

And the contents of these newsboys' yells were almost all related to electric lights.

Andre had just left the house and was about to go to school when he saw a newsboy running by, shouting: "The electrical age is coming, and the spectacle of the 'Moulin Rouge' was revealed last night. Come and read the "Science Pravda" "Reveal the scientific truth for you!"

"Revolutionary lighting technology is born, and the night will no longer exist! The door to wealth is opening with a bang! Come and see "Paris Businessman" revealing the short-term and long-term economic impact of this technology for you."

"Looking at the beauty under the light, the beauty is more moving. Come and see the explanation of the new model of 'Moulin Rouge' by The Sun..."

The newspaper boy only shouted twice, and then another group of people surrounded him, and Andre also hurriedly said to his follower, Vaja, "Vaja, go quickly, grab some newspapers!"

"Master, what newspaper do you want?" Vadya asked.

"No matter what newspaper you want!" Andre said, "Go!"

Vaja strode forward, relying on his bulk and strength, he pushed aside the surrounding people with a single move of his hands. After a while, he ran back with a lot of newspapers in his arms.

"Master, look, I bought a copy of everything." Vadya handed the newspapers to Andre.

Andre originally wanted to say: "Give me "Scientific Pravda" first." But then he remembered that Vadya didn't know French at all, so he had to pick up all the dozen or so newspapers and search for them one by one.

"Well, "The Sun"? Let's not read this..." Andre was about to put the "Sun" aside, but he heard a voice say: "Andre, you have improved a lot, and you also read "The Sun" The Sun, that's great!"